A GREAT GAME'S ORIGIN.

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 83, 10 April 1922, Page 4

A GREAT GAME'S ORIGIN.

Many people may be interested to know what is the exact historical refer-

ence contained in a cable message published this week stating that plans are on foot in England to "celebrate the centenary of the Rugby game of football" next season by a tournament between the Rugby playing countries. Few of the scores of thousands who follow football bother much about the history of the game and the dates of its developments. Football in 6ome form or other is probably as old as civilisation. They played a kind of football in Greek and Roman times, and there is a tradition that Roman legionaries introduced the game into Britain, just as centuries later Tommy Atkins took cricket and football with him round the world Ireland, appropriately enough, cornea forward with a claim to having developed football independently in the remote past. Football of a very primitive sort was a popular game in England in the middle ages, and down to the c-ightcenth century. There was an economy of rules a prodigality of strength and roughness. Goals might be miles tipart, the "field" the countryside, and the sides rival villages. Apparently voil could kick or throw the ball

and force your way along in mass formation, but you could not run with the ball. A sixteenth century writer condemns the game as "a devclishe pastime" which produces "'envy, rancour, and

malice, and sometimes brawling, murther, homicide, and great effusion of blood, as experience daily tcachcth.'' The indictment is faintly applicable to some modern matches. The public schools kept football going when it declined in popularity, and Rugby gave birth to the famous code that bears its name. Some years ago the Old Rugbeians' Society, curious to discover exactly how the game had originated, looked up the records, and traced the revolution to one Ellis, a boy who had been described by a school fellow as "having plenty of assurance and ambitions of being well thought of." A tablet .at the school records his deed and explains the centenary that is to be celebrated next season. "This stone commemorates the exploit of William Webb Ellis, who, with a fine disregard for the rules of football as played in his time, first took the ball in his arms and ran with it, thus originating the distinctive feature of the Rugby game, A.D. 1823." Rugby was the product of Ellis' enterprise, and the fact that they played on grass, where it was possible to tackle a running player without exposing him to considerable risk of injury. A good many years passed, however, before Rugby became a popular game. The first international match was; not played until 1870, and the English Rugby Union was founded the following year. As for Ellis, he entered the Church, but we cannot round off the story by saying that he rose to be a bishop. He remained a > ptfVish clergyman till the end.